The Action of Hormones in Plants and Invertebrates focuses on the mechanisms of action of hormones in plants and invertebrates, including auxins, vitamins, steroids, and carotenoids. The book considers plant growth hormones, hormone-like substances in fungi, and hormones in insects and crustaceans. This volume is organized into four chapters and begins with a historical overview of the concept of hormones in plants, and then describes assay methods for auxins, along with auxin chemistry, transport, and role in tropisms. The discussion moves to other plant hormones such as wound hormones, flower-forming hormones, vitamins, steroids, carotenoids, rhizocaline, and caulocaline. The book then methodically explains insect hormones and their sources; the role of hormones in reproduction and postembryonic development; and hormone-induced color change in insects. This volume also offers information on the mode of action and physicochemical properties of insect hormones. The book concludes with a chapter on the biological effects of hormones on Crustacea, from sex characteristics to color change, molting and growth, retinal pigment movements, locomotion, and ovarian development. This book will be of interest to biologists, zoologists, botanists, and endocrinologists.

Handbook of Hormones: Comparative Endocrinology for Basic and Clinical Research collates fundamental information about the structure and function of hormones from basic biology to clinical use. The handbook offers a rapid way to obtain specific facts about the chemical and molecular characteristics of hormones, their receptors and signalling pathways, and the biological activities they regulate. The evolution of hormones and gene families is also covered both in the text and in online ancillaries. Users will find simple and visual ways to learn key molecular information. Chapters and online ancillary resources integrate additional sections, providing a comparative molecular, functional, and evolutionary consideration. - Provides the only single resource available with concise, yet informative descriptions of hormones in vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants - Presents hormones in groups according to their origin, so that readers can easily understand their inter-relation - Includes comparative information on the structures and functions of hormones enabling readers to understand both general and specific actions in and across species - Ancillary website hosts additional information, including sequence data, comparative data, figures, and tables

Comparative Endocrinology, Volume II, Part One: Invertebrate Hormones: Tissue Hormones provides readers with some basic knowledge of animal morphology, physiology, and chemistry; a systematic and comprehensive account of endocrine principles from the comparative point of view. It can therefore be hoped to present a critical and up-to-date picture of the comparative aspects of endocrinology to the medical scientist and zoologist generally, and to furnish an adequately documented background to the research worker who is beginning to take an interest in one of the many endocrine systems described. The subject matter has been divided into three sections. The largest—which forms the contents of the first volume—deals with hormones originating in well-defined glandular organs and tissues and also reviews the relationships between the central nervous system and these endocrine complexes. The second section (Volume II, Part 1) discusses hormonal systems of invertebrates, and the third (Volume II, Part 2) contains a description of neurohormones and tissue hormones.

Intraspecific communication involves the activation of chemoreceptors and subsequent activation of different central areas that coordinate the responses of the entire organism—ranging from behavioral modification to modulation of hormones release. Animals emit intraspecific chemical signals, often referred to as pheromones, to advertise their presence to members of the same species and to regulate interactions aimed at establishing and regulating social and reproductive bonds. In the last two decades, scientists have developed a greater understanding of the neural processing of these chemical signals. Neurobiology of Chemical Communication explores the role of the chemical senses in mediating intraspecific communication. Providing an up-to-date outline of the most recent advances in the field, it presents data from laboratory and wild species, ranging from invertebrates to vertebrates, from insects to humans. The book examines the structure, anatomy, electrophysiology, and molecular biology of pheromones. It discusses how chemical signals work on different mammalian and non-mammalian species and includes chapters on insects, Drosophila, honey bees, amphibians, mice, tigers, and cattle. It also explores the controversial topic of human pheromones. An essential reference for students and researchers in the field of pheromones, this is also an ideal resource for those working on behavioral phenotyping of animal models and persons interested in the biology/ecology of wild and domestic species.

Mechanisms of Hormone Action: A NATO Advanced Study Institute focuses on the action mechanisms of hormones, including regulation of proteins, hormone actions, and biosynthesis. The selection first offers information on hormone action at the cell membrane and a new approach to the structure of polypeptides and proteins in biological systems, such as the membranes of cells. Discussions focus on the cell membrane as a possible locus for the hormone receptor; gaps in understanding of the molecular organization of the cell membrane; and a possible model of hormone action at the membrane level. The text also ponders on insulin and regulation of protein biosynthesis, including insulin and protein biosynthesis, insulin and nucleic acid metabolism, and proposal as to the mode of action of insulin in stimulating protein synthesis. The publication elaborates on the action of a neurohypophysial hormone in an elasmobranch fish; the effect of ecdysone on gene activity patterns in giant chromosomes; and action of ecdysone on RNA and protein metabolism in the blowfly, Calliphora erythrocephala. Topics include nature of the enzyme induction, ecdysone and RNA metabolism, and nature of the epidermis nuclear RNA fractions isolated by the Georgiev method. The selection is a valuable reference for readers interested in the mechanisms of hormone action.

Life evolves in a cyclic environment, and to be successful, organisms must adapt not only to their spatial habitat, but also to their temporal habitat. How do plants and animals determine the time of year so they can anticipate seasonal changes in their habitats? In most cases, day length, or photoperiod, acts as the principal external cue for determining seasonal activity. For organisms not living at the bottom of the ocean or deep in a cave, day follows night, and the length of the day changes predictably throughout the year. These changes in photoperiod provide the most accurate signal for predicting upcoming seasonal conditions. Measuring day length allows plants and animals to anticipate and adapt to seasonal changes in their environments in order to optimally time key developmental events including seasonal growth and flowering of plants, annual bouts of reproduction, dormancy and migration in insects, and the collapse and regrowth of the reproductive system that drives breeding seasons in mammals and birds. Although research on photoperiodic time measurement originally integrated work on plants and animals, recent work has focused more narrowly and separately on plants, invertebrates, or vertebrates. As the fields have become more specialized there has been less interaction across the broader field of photoperiodism. As a result, researchers in each area often needlessly repeat both theoretical and experimental work. For example, understanding that there are genetically distinct morphs among species that, depending on latitude, respond to different critical photoperiods was discovered separately in plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates over the course of 20 years. However, over the past decade, intense work on daily and seasonal rhythms in fruit flies, mustard plants, and hamsters and mice, has led to remarkable progress in understanding the phenomenology, as well as the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms and clocks. This book was developed to further this type of cooperation among scientists from all related disciplines. It brings together leading researchers working on photoperiodic timing of seasonal adaptations in plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Each of its three sections begins with an introduction by the section editor, and at the end of the book, the section editors present a synthesis of common themes in photoperiodism, as well as discuss similarities and differences in approaches to the study of photoperiodism, and future directions for research on photoperiodic time measurement.